Apparatus for packaging and packing packages of yarn

ABSTRACT

This apparatus is to automatically enclose in bags and pack in cases or cartons packages of yarn formed on the supports such as cops, pirns or bobbins by positioning the packages above a position where they are supposed to be enclosed in bags and encased in cases or cartons after they have been picked up from a bobbin pallet with bobbin arrestors, keeping open the bags for enclosing the packages with bag-holding bars provided with vacuum mechanism for opening the bags, positioning the bags under the packages placing the case or carton under the bags whereby the bobbin arrestors are lowered, the carton is raised, the packages are released from the hold of the bobbin arrestors and dropped. Both the enclosing in bags and the packing in cartons of the packages of yarn are automatically conducted at a time.

United States Patent [191 Ishida et al.

[111 3,884,014 1451 May 20, 1975 APPARATUS FOR PACKAGING AND PACKINGPACKAGES OF YARN [76] Inventors: Kinyu Ishida, 2750-1 Minamiyoshida-cho;Eiji Minaka, 1362 Yogo-cho, both of Matsuyama, Japan [22] Filed: Jan. 5,1972 [21] Appl. No.: 215,619

[52] U.S. Cl. 53/55; 53/171; 53/187 [51] Int. Cl B65b 57/02; B65b 57/10[58] Field of Search 53/55, 171, 183, 187

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,385,023 5/1968 Westall etal. 53/55 X 3,599,390 8/1971 Krenk'e et al. 53/55 PrimaryExaminer-Travis S. McGehee Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Leonard W. Shermanet al.

. [57] ABSTRACT This apparatus is to automatically enclose in bags andpack in cases or cartons packages of yarn formed on the supports such ascops, pirns or bobbins by positioning the packages above a positionwhere they are supposed to be enclosed in bags and encased in cases orcartons after they have been picked up from a bobbin pallet with bobbinarrestors, keeping open the bags for enclosing the packages withbag-holding bars provided with vacuum mechanism for opening the bags,positioning the bags under the packages placing the case or carton underthe bags whereby the bobbin arrestors are lowered, the carton is raised,the packages are released from the hold of the bobbin arrestors anddropped. Both the enclosing in bags and the packing in cartons of thepackages of yarn are automatically conducted at a time.

8 Claims, 19 Drawing Figures PATENTED MAY 2 0 I975 sum UZUF 1 XM WNW/QMa I m i w Klan.

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SHEET GBUF 11 APPARATUS FOR PACKAGING AND PACKING PACKAGES F YARN Thepresent invention relates to the packing of synthetic yarn packagesformed on supports such as bobbins or pirns.

The enclosing in bags (hereinafter called packaging) and packing incases or cartons packages of synthetic yarn have hitherto been carriedout manually. That is, packages of yarn wound on bobbins withdrawtwisters are each put into plastic bags with one end sealed afterthey have been subjected to visual inspection and encased in apaperboard carton having predetermined partitions to receive eachpackage. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,321,073, 3,306,439, 3,335,858 and 3,381,817disclose cop packaging and a carton for storing packages.

Drawing speeds for synthetic yarn, however, have recently been increasedto produce large packages of great dimensions and weight and it hasbecome difficult and inefficient to package and pack such large packagesmanually.

Hence automation of the packaging and packing of packages has beendesired, but was not completed until recently on account of thefollowing difficulties: Synthetic yarn tends to easily slough and fuzzwith a slight touch or rubbing on the surface of the package and becomesimpossible to rewind and unserviceable. The accuracy of handling ofpackages sufficient enough to eliminate the above trouble was notobtained by the conventional mechanical operations.

The object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus with highreliability for packaging and packing the packages of synthetic yarn.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus forpackaging and packing numerous packages at a time.

Still another object of the presentinvention is to provide an apparatuswhich is capable of avoiding injuring or staining packages of yarnduring the packaging and packing operations.

A further object is the provision of a compact, inexpensive automaticpackaging and packing apparatus for packages of yarn.

Other objects of the present invention will in part be obvious and willin part be apparent hereinafter.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for automatically andsimultaneously packaging and encasing the packages of yarn. That is, theapparatus of the present invention comprises package supply meansmovable horizontally and vertically, bag-holding means movablehorizontally, means for shifting cartons horizontally and vertically, acontrol mechanism for the package supply means, the bagholding means andthe means for shifting cartons, which is capable of detecting that thepackage supply means, the bag-holding means and the carton each havebeen positioned in place, lowering the package supply means for apredetermined distance, raising the carton for a predetermined distancewith the means for shifting the carton and releasing the packages fromthe package supply means.

The package su ply means comprises a shifter plate with bobbin arrestorsmounted thereon and an air cylinder or a motor for moving horizontallythe shifter plate and vertically the bobbin arresters.

The bag-holding means consists of a pair of bagholding bars providedwith a vacuum mechanism, a device for engaging or disengaging onebag-holding bar with or from the other bag-holding bar and an aircylinder or a motor to move horizontally the bagholding bars.

The means for shifting the carton is composed of a conveyor, preferablya roller type of conveyor, and a lift table.

The control mechanism has numerous limit switches or photoelectric tubesfor detecting the horizontal and vertical positions of the bobbinarresters, the bagholding bars and the carton and sends signals to eachmeans according to a predetermined sequence. When the package supplymeans is positioned above the position where packaging and packing areconducted, the bag-holding means is positioned under the package supplymeans while the bars are kept open, and an empty carton is positionedunder the bag-holding means, the bobbin arresters descend for apredetermined distance, the empty carton ascends for predeter- FIG. 1 isa front view of a package of yarn wound on a bobbin.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the package.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the apparatus of the present inventionjust prior to operation.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the apparatus of the present inventionduring the packaging and encasing operations.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of package supply means.

FIGS. 6 and 7 are a perspective view and a plan view of bag-holdingmeans.

FIG. 8 shows a lift table.

FIG. 9 is a plan view illustrating a mechanism for feeding cartons oneby one to the lift table.

FIGS. 10, 1 1 and 12 are diagrams illustrating packaging and encasing ofyarn packages by the process.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a sequence of packaging and encasingoperations.

FIG. 14 is a view showing the positioning of packages clamped withbobbin arrestors relative to the bags.

FIGS. 15, 16 and 17 are views illustrating one embodiment of bag-holdingbars.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing the movements of the bag holding bars.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, numeral 1 is a bobbin comprising a hollow metal (asaluminum) tube and yarn is wound on it to form yarn layers 2. The woundarrangement of yarn 2 such as found on the bobbin 1 is referred to as apackage. Both ends of the bobbin 1 protrude an appropriate length (about20 to 44 mm) from the yarn layers 2. As described below, the bobbinarrester clamps this portion of a bobbin.

FIGS. 3 and 4 are perspective views illustrating one embodiment of thepackaging and encasing apparatus according to the present invention.Some packages 3 are placed on a pallet 4 (three packages in thedrawings) and delivered to a turn table 6 from the prior process with aroller conveyor 5. In the drawings, the pallets 4 are being placed oneby one on the turn table 6 but two or more pallets may be placedsimultaneously. In this case bobbin arrestors 11 should be arranged intwo or more rows.

The turn table 6 rotates intermittently through 90 degrees per each turnand the packages are arrested with the bobbin arresters 11 in a position7. The emptied pallet is discharged to a roller conveyor 8.

Package'supply means is shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5. In the drawings, thebobbin arresters 11 are secured on a support plate 12 and three bobbinarresters are arranged in a row. But six bobbin arresters in two rowsmay be arranged. The support plate 12 is linked to a piston rod 14a ofan air cylinder 14 mounted on the shifter plate 13 and vertically movedwith the air cylinder 14. The shifter plate 13 is provided with wheels15,

which roll on rails 17. The shifter plate 13 is linked to a piston rod19a of an air cylinder 19 and runs horizontally along the rails 17.

A bag manufacturing machine 20 is shown in FIG. 3. Tubular film 21folded and wound on a drum 22 is discharged from film supply rollers ata constant speed. High-speed rollers 23 intermittently drivensynchronously with the movement of the bag-holding bar 50 feed film 21having a given length with one end open and the other end sealed betweenthe bag-holding bars 50, 50. A heat sealer 24 is positioned such that itseals the film 21 just above the location where it will be cut with acutter 25. While the rollers 23 stand still, the film 21 is maintainedunder tension with a dancer roller 26.

Bag-holding means is illustrated in FIGS. 3, 6 and 7. A bedplate 33 isplaced on rails 31 by means of wheels 32. Two shafts 34 are supportedwith brackets 35 secured on the bedplate 33 and slidably pass throughthe bag-holding bars 50, 50. The bag-holding bars 50, 50 have inletports 51,51 on their inner sides. The insides of the bars 50, 50' arelinked to a vacuum mechanism shown in FIG. 16 through a vacuum hose. Theinside structure of the bag-holding bars 50, 50 will be discussed later.The bedplate 33 is linked to a rod 36a of a stationary air cylinder 36at one edge 33a of the bedplate 33.

In FIGS. 6 and 7 is shown one example of a driving mechanism forbagholding bar 50. A lever 37 is journaled rotatably in a levelsurfaceon a pin 40 (FIG. 7) secured to the bedplate and positioned halfwaybetween the bars 50, 50'. The lever 37 is provided with slits 41a, 41band 410, which are respectively engaged with a-pin 43 mounted at thetip'of a piston rod 42a of an air cylinder 42 and pins 52 and 52 mountedon the bottom of the bag-holding bars 50, 50. The air cylinder 42 issecured on the bed-plate 33 by means ofa bracket 44. With such amechanism, the lever 37 rotates at the pin 40 according to the movementof piston rod 42a of the air cylinder 42 to cause the bagholding bars50, 50' to engage or disengage with or from each other.

As shown in FIG. 3, the film 21 sealed at the lower end, hanging betweenthe bag-holding bars 50, 50' is held between the engaged bag-holdingbars 50, 50 with the inlet ports 51, 51' (FIG. 6) and cut just above thepoint of the holding with the cutter 25. By the disengagement of thebag-holding bars 50, 50 is opened a film bag 27.

Means 70 for shifting a carton is shown in FIGS. 3, 8 and 9. The means70 for shifting a carton comprises a roller conveyor 71 on the supplyside, a lift table 72 and a roller conveyor 73 on the discharge jectedfrom between the rollers 76 and spaced apart side. In FIG. 8 isillustrated the mechanism of the lift table 72. Rollers 76 connected soas to interlock each other with a chain and guide rails 77 are mountedon a frame 74. The frame 74 is supported with racks 78 such that itmoves up and down, the teeth of the-racks 78 gearing with those of twopairs of pinions 79 engaging each other.

A piston rod 81 of an air cylinder serves as a rack as well. The teethof the rack gear with the teeth of the pinion 79b attached to the pinionshaft 79a to rotate the pinion 79b and four pinions 79 and thereby movevertically the racks 78 and the frame 74.

Whenthe lift table 72 is located in the lowest position, one of therollers 76 is engaged with a driving roller 82 at its lower face andcaused to rotate by the rotation of the roller 82. Since the roller 82is arranged separately from the frame 74, the rollers 76 are detachedfrom the roller 82 when the frame ascends. Thus the rollers 76 will notrotate. The lift table 72 is provided with stoppers 87a, 87b, 87c and87d which are profrom each other the same interval as one partition ofthe carton. However for simplicity in FIG. 8 only two stoppers 87a, 87bare disclosed.

One embodiment of a mechanism for feeding cartons one by one onto a lifttable is shown in FIG. 9. On supply roller conveyor 71 are mountedstationary guards 84, 84' and 85, 85' positioned in stagger to eachother and guards 86, 86 rendered transversely movable by means of an aircylinder 88. The length of the movable guards 86, 86' is almost the sameas that of the carton. When a carton is present on the lift table 72,the guards 86, 86 are positioned as shown by the solid line and thecarton stands still debarred with the stationary guards 85, 85'. Whenthe lift table is emptied, the movable guards 86, 86' move to a positionas shown by a dotted line to push only one carton to a position which isfree from the stationary guards 85, 85'. As a result, the moving cartonis conveyed onto the lift table and stops when it hits the stopper 87amovable up and down between the rollers.

' With reference to FIGS. 3, 4, and 10 to 12, the operations ofpackaging and encasing the packages of yarn with the invention apparatuswill be described below (FIG. 13 illustrates the timing of movement ofeach element of the apparatus).

In FIG. 3, a pallet 4 loaded with packages of yarn 3 is sent to position7 where the packages are picked up by a turn table 6 during which timebobbin arresters 11 descend by the action of air cylinder 14 to arrestthe packages 3 and ascend. Then shifter plate 13 advances (to the rightin FIG. 3) by means of air cylinder 19, and when it comes just abovelift table 72, strikes a limit switch B and stops.

In FIGS. 3 and 6, bag-holding bars 50, 50 hold bags 27 between them andopen them by means of air cylinder 42, and the bedplate 33 is caused toadvance to left (in the drawing) by means of air cylinder 36. When thebedplate 33 comes under the bobbin arresters 11 and just above the lifttable, it strikes the limit switch L and stops.

A carton 83, as described above with reference to FIG. 9, is fed to thelift table 72 and strikes a limit switch 0,. When limit switches B, Land 0, all generate signals, the following actions are started as shownin FIGS. 4 and 10 to 12. The bobbin arresters 11 start to descendtogether with the support plate 12 by means of air cylinder 14, and atthe same time the lift table 72 starts to ascend. During this time thebag-holding bars 50, 50 stand still and hold the bags 27 opened. Whenthe packages descend for a predetermined distance, slightly above thebottom of the bags, the limit switch D generates a signal and the bobbinarresters discontinue to fall. When the lift table 72 ascends for apredetermined distance such that the bottom of the carton 83 is slightlyspaced from the bottom of the bags 27, the limit switch S generates asignal to stop the ascending of the lift table 72.

When the limit switches D and S generate signals, the bobbin arresters11 release the packages 3 and start to ascend, and the shifter, plate 13starts to retreat. At the same time, the degree of vacuum inside thebag-holding bars 50, 50' becomes zero, and the bedplate 33 begins toretreat. The packages 3 fall to the bottom of the carton together withthe bags 27 by gravity to consummate packaging and encasingsimultaneously. By the signals of the limit switches D and S, the lifttable 72 starts to descend.

When the lift table 72 returns to the lowest position, the rollers 76come into contact with the driving roller 82 and start to rotate. Thenthe first stopper 87a falls ignore the carton advances. The positioningof the carton is determined with the stopper 87b to cause a limit switchQ (FIG. 3) to generate a signal. In this way the carton is shifted bythe amount of one partition to receive the packages into the nextpartition. In the carton as shown in FIG. 4, positions of the carton arechanged four times to receive packages in turn. (However for simplicityin FIG. 8, only two stoppers are disclosed.) And if the support plate 12of the package supply means is provided with bobbin arresters in tworows, one shifting of the position of the carton will suffice. In thiscase, the two rows of the bobbin arresters are preferably arranged so asto have the distance twice the width of two times one partition of thecarton lest the adjacent packages rub each other.

Instead of shifting the carton, it is possible to provide a mechanismfor moving the package supply means 10 and the bag-holding means 30.After all the partitions are filled with the packages, the carton 83 issent to the roller conveyor 73.

The control system for the package supply means, the bag-holding meansand the means for shifting cartons can be implemented with conventionalelectric circuits and can easily be arrived at by one skilled in theart; and, thus, the present invention should not be understood asincluding the novelty of the control mechanisms for the system.

In automatic packaging and packing with the use of bags of conventionalsize for the manual operations, there have frequently occurred troublesin that the bags are disengaged from the bag-holding bars 50, 50' beforethe packages are fully enclosed in the bags. The reason is that aconventional bag slightly greater in circumference than the packagemakes a rectangle the shorter sides of which become smaller than thediameter of the package as illustrated in FIG. 14(b).

Hence in automatic packaging and packing apparatus,

disadvantageously have a greater size than conventional cartons used formanual operation.

For this reason a device has been proposed for increasing highreliability in the packaging operation with the use of bags of greatersize and cartons of the same size as in the manual operation. That is,in FIG. 11, the middle one 11a of the three bobbin arrestors 11 issecured on the support plate 12 and the other two 11b are engaged withsmall air cylinders 16, secured on the support plate 12, which arecapable of moving the bobbin arrestors 11b horizontally and therebyaltering the interval between the bobbin arresters 11a and 11b. At thestart of the packaging operation, the initial interval between thebobbin arrestors 11a and 11b is p as shown in FIG. 14 (c) and the dottedlines in FIG. 11. After by fall of the bobbin arresters 11, such thatthe lower ends of the packages 3 have been enclosed in the bags heldwith the bag-holding bars 50, the air cylinders 16 work to move thebobbin arresters 11b at both ends into the center and reduce theinterval between the bobbin arresters 11a and 11b, that is, the intervalbetween the packages 3 (positioned as shown by the solid lines). Thusthe packages 3 can be stored in a carton of conventional size.

The mechanism of the bag-holding means 30 is described referring toFIGS. 15, 16 and 17. In conventional bag-holding means, the interiors ofthe bagholding bars 50, 50 form. single hollow vacuum chambers 53, 53'as shown in FIG. 15. The vacuum chambers 53, 53' are connected with avacuum pump 55 through aflexible tube 54. However with such a bagholdingmeans, the bags have defectively been opened because some bags are founddifficult to open under the influence of their material, manufacturingconditions, ambient temperatures or humidity. That is, such a defectivebag 27a is not sufficiently sucked to the bag-holding bar 50, and asmall gap occurs between an inlet port 51' and the bag 27a. Thus airflows in from the inlet port 51'. Though the flow rate is very low, thepressure in the vacuum chamber 53' gradually rises and approachesatmospheric pressure unless the gap disappears in a short time to causeother bags to be disengaged from the bag-holding bar 50.

In promoting operational efficiency, it will suffice, therefore, toprovide an inlet port corresponding to each bag and to prevent onedefective opening from affecting other bags. But each chamber would,therefore, require a vacuum hose, resulting in the provision of bulkybag-holding means and complicated operation of the means. On the otherhand increasing the capacity of the vacuum pump represents anothermanner of solving this problem but is undesirable in view ofinstallation cost and space.

In FIGS. 16 and 17, numerals 56, 56' indicate secondary vacuum chambersindependent of each other. The secondary vacuum chambers each have inletports 51, 51 in an appropriate number. Numerals 57, 57' are primaryvacuum chambers connecting with the secondary vacuum chambers. One endof each primary vacuum chamber is connected with a vacuum pump 55 bymeans of flexible tube 54 and a hose 58. Numerals 59, 59 arerestrictions to retard the flowing of air and may take the form of smallcopper tubes, orifices or any other appropriate design to control airflow.

In this device the fact that any bag is disengaged from the inlet portsand the inlet ports become open will not affect other secondary vacuumchambers due to the restrictions 59, 59. Further the vacuum capacity ofthe whole bag-holding means is increased with the provision of theprimary vacuum chambers 57, 57'.

Therefore the degree of vacuum is maintained satisfactorily to attractinstantly a bag disengaged from inlet ports and to widely increaseefficiency of the bag opening.

A pressure gauge P for detecting pressure in the vacuum chambers may beprovided. The pressure gauge P generates a signal to discontinue thepackaging operation when the pressure in the vacuum chambers exceeds apredetermined amount of pressure.

Further in order that the bag opening operation may be more accurate, itis effective to move the bagholding bars 50, 50' stepwise, not at astretch, that is, to narrow the interval between the bars after theyhave been extended to a certain extent and then increase it.

The above steps will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 18.

FIG. 18 is a diagram is which the interval X between the bag-holdingbars 50, 50 and the advancing distance y of the bedplate 33 are plottedas ordinate and time as abscissa. Under the conditions where thebagholding bars are engaged with each other holding bags, the bedplate33 starts to advance. When the bedplate 33 advances for a distance y, alimit switch I generates a signal I and starts to extend the intervalbetween the bars 50, 50 by means of air cylinder 42. When the intervalbetween the bag-holding bars reaches a predetermined valueX a limitswitch J generates a signal J and causes the bars 50, 50 to start to beengaged with each other. Then when the bedplate 33 advances for adistance Y a limit switch K generates a signal K to start disengagingone bar from the other. The signal K is arranged in such a way to cancelthe signal J of the limit switch J and to cause the bars to be fullydisengaged from each other. A timer may be used instead of the limitswitches.

We claim:

1. Apparatus for automatically enclosing in bags and encasing packagesof yarn comprising package supply means horizontally and verticallymovable; bag-holding means horizontally movable; means for shifting acarton horizontally and vertically; and means for controlling thepackage supply means, the bag-holding means and the means for shifting acarton,

said controlling means detecting when the package supply means, thebag-holding means and the carton are each in a predetermined position tooperate the package supply means to descend a predetermined distance, tooperate the carton shifting means to raise the carton a predetermineddistance, and to disengage the packages from the package supply means todrop the packages into bags held by the bag-holding means and into thecarton.

2. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1 in which the package supplymeans has a plurality of bobbinarresters and means for altering thespacing between the bobbin arresters.

3. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1 in which the package supplymeans has a plurality of bobbin arresters arranged in at least two rowsand the distance between the rows is two times the width of onepartition of the carton.

4. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1 in which the bag-holding meanshas at least a pair of bag-holding bars.

5. The apparatus as set forth in claim 4 in which each of thebag-holding bars has a primary vacuum chamber, a plurality of secondaryvacuum chambers and restriction means communicating with the primaryvacuum chamber and the secondary vacuum chambers.

6. The apparatus as set forth in claim 5 in which the bag-holding meanshas a device for moving one bag-holding bar toward and away from theother bagholding bar.

7. The apparatus as set forth in claim 6 in which in opening the bags,the device for moving the one bag-holding bar toward and away from theother bag-holding bar narrows the interval between the bag-holding barsonce the bag-holding bars are extended and subsequently widens theinterval between the bag-holding bars.

8. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1 in which the means for shiftingthe carton includes a lift table having at least two stoppers spacedfrom each other by an interval equal to the interval of one partition ofthe carton.

1. Apparatus for automatically enclosing in bags and encasing packagesof yarn comprising package supply means horizontally and verticallymovable, bag-holding means horizontally movable, means of shifting acarton horizontally and vertically and means of controlling the packagesupply means, the bag-holding means and the means of shifting a cartonwhich detects the package supply means the bag-holding means and thecarton each occupy their respective positions, causes the package supplymeans to descend for a predetermined amount of distance, causes thecarton to ascend for a predetermined distance by the means of shiftingthe carton, and disengages the packages from the package supply means.2. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1 in which the package supplymeans has a plurality of bobbin-arresters and means of altering theinterval between the bobbin arresters.
 3. The apparatus as set forth inclaim 1 in which the package supply means has a plurality of bobbinarresters arranged in at least two rows and the distance between therows is two times one partition of the carton.
 4. The apparatus as setforth in claim 1 in which the bag-holding means has at least a pair ofbag-holding bars.
 5. The apparatus as set forth in claim 4 in which thebag-holding bars have a pair of primary vacuum chambers, pairs ofsecondary vacuum chambers and resistors provided between the primaryvacuum chambers and the secondary vacuum chambers.
 6. The apparatus asset forth in claim 5 in which the bag-holding means has device forengaging or disengaging one bag-holding bar with or from the otherbag-holding bar.
 7. The apparatus as set forth in claim 6 in which inopening the bags, the device for engaging or disengaging one bag-holdingbar with or from the other one works such that the interval onceextended between the bag-holding bars is narrowed and subsequentlyextended.
 8. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1 in which the means ofshifting the carton comprises a lift table having at least two stoppersspaced apart from each other the same interval as one partition of thecarton.